Sign character



H. M. SORENSON AND G. W. LEE.

SIGN CHARACTER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 25. mm

1 ,3 1 4,7 1 2 Patented Sept. 2, 1919.

W1T1VESS,' INVENTOR.

129mg .214. Sat-ch60); 4 1 Ni Gcagye Mle THP. COLUMBIA PLANnnn/mu 1:0,, WASHINGTON, n. c.

I efiicient sign, and more particularly achar- UNITED sTATEs PATE T o rmon.

HENRY M. soRENsoN AND enonen w. LEE, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

United States, residing at Chicago, in the; county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sign Characters, of which the followingis a specification. I

1 Our inventionrrelates to signs and has for'its' object the'provislon ofa simple and acter for a sign whichcanbe easily and quickly repaired, and one which may be economically manufactured and durable in use. Other objects will appear hereinafter.

:An embodiment of our invention is shown l in v the accompanying. drawing, forming a part ofthisspecification, and in which Figure l is aside view of a portion of a sign embodying our: invention.

Fig. 2 is a section. taken on l1ne2-2of Fig. 1. I

:Fig 3 is an enlarged fragmental detail takenfon line 3+3 of:Fig. 1.

"Figs. 4 and bare viewssimi-lar to Fig. showing modified forms of parts of the cons.

1 vstruction; and" Fig. .6 is anienlarged fragment showing i a corner portion of. a character used in the construction-i Referring. more particularlyv to the draw-.

Ing, Ywe have-shownv a sign suitable for illuminating the characters thereof, and: in I the' form shown a box made up of a rear wall 7, front wall, 8, and edge walls .9 are 9 formed of anyjsuitable material, such as a sheet metal.

electric lamps, as indicated, or any other.

The wallsmay. be put together in any desirable manner. Inside of the 'walls a suitable number of lamps 10 may i be provided for illuminating the characters of the sign. The lamps 10 may be desirable illumination means may .'be supplied.

This invention is directed more particularly to the characters making up the sign referred to. In these characters any desirable substance may be used to represent the characters. We find that glass plate or celluloid plates serve admirably for forming the main parts of the characters. These glass or celluloid plates may be formed in any desired colors, or formed transparent when so desired, so that during the day time the sign will be attractive, and after dark the lamps 10 will illuminate the Specification of Letters latent.

Application flledMay'25 1918. Serial No. 236,457,

. said opening.

SIGN cHAItAc E t.

I atented Sept. 2, 1919.

signito urender it useful at these times as well.

.The plates of glass or celluloid may be. formed in any "particular or convenient sizes, and are preferably made in such sizes and shapes .thatthoy will fit togethereasily. and=quickly, and so that the signs can; be made upfat the places where they are to be put into useby persons of no great skill. In the drawing we have indicated one letter,lnit itwillbe apparent that any letter or character can be made up in the same manner that this letter is formed.

In .thtasignshown the front :wall 8 has openings cut therein representing the desired characters which are to be shown on the sign. In eachof the character openings a plurality of plates 11 are provided, which when fitted together substantially fill The sheets 11 are preferably. fitted together so that theyflcan easily be made from stripsof material'by cutting to the desired shapesa.Around each oi the. I sheetsll we providean independentframe which is preferably made up of a single strip of long narrow thin material. 0 find zinc, or other soft metals quite suitable for this, purpose, although celluloid and many other ;materials may answer as well. The material making up the. frame 12 is preferably made in long strips having a cross-section, substantially "as. indicated in. Figs. :3 -and-l-, and when itis desired to make up a sign the long strips of material are cut and bent around the sheets of material 1.1 to form fl'tllllOS; llach of the frameslil has the strip of which it is formed laid around closely on a sheet 11 with the ends 13 t-hereofbrought. together preferably on a plane side of a sheet 11 and secured together by means of solder, or the like. The strip of which each frame 12 is formed has 'an intermediate portion 14. which runs throughout its length disposed around the edges of a sheet 11. This part 14 is not severed at the corners of the sheet 11 and is the part which holds the sides of the frame together. At each side of the intermediate portion 14 is a portion 15 which is disposed on opposite sides of the sheet 11 adjacent the edge of the latter. At the corners the parts 15 are notched and fitted together as at 16 so that such parts 15 will lie flatly against the sides of the sheet 11, including the corners of the latter. One of the parts 15 has a part 17 which is bent back against such part 15 and extends beyond the latter providing a flange adapted to besecured to place.

side 8, and in Fig. 4 this flange 17 is secured to the outer sideof plate'S. The flange 17 may be secured to the plate r8by;tl1e use of solder, or any other desirable means.

- In Fig. 5 we have shown a slightly modified form of the frame 12 which consists in providinga portion 18 between the flange 17 and its part' 1-5; This part 18*provides dies (not shown), or in any desirable man- 5 come Within means 1 for. raising the character away from the plate'S so as to'indicate raised-letters orcharacters. It will be apparent -that'-while'= the part 18 is disposed substantially 'in the same plane as the part 'l lin Fig, 5*, that this part 18 may not always lie in this same 1 plane, but may be disposed at an angle to the plane of part 1 1. The long strip from which the frames: are out may be formed on 1181', and set up andfitted to the-plates 11 as the character is formed, and be'vdone either in a shop or out erected.

thepreferred form of our-invention, wvedo not desire to limit ourselves to the'precise details set forth, b ut desire to avail our-y selves of such var1at1ons and changes as; the scope' ofo the appended rality Of separate sheets of, material ar 5 ranged to represent a character; a frame around each of said s'heetsmade up of a single piece of sheet material having an iii-' termediate portion throughout its length disposed against the edges of saidsheet and edge portions adj acent' said intermediate portiondispos'ed on the sides of said sheet;

and means securing said frames; together.

2. A character for signs comprising a plurality of-firm sheets arranged to represent a character, a frame aroundeach of saidfi'rm sheets madeu'p of single piece'of'ithin Copies of this patent may be obtained wherethe sign is to be for five cents each, by addre's WashingtonfD: 0.

sheet material having an intermediate per-i tion throughout its length disposed against the edges of said sheet andportions ad] acent ,saidsintermediate portion disposed on the sides of said sheet holding the latter in po ,sition, and one longitudinal edge of ,said, frame material forming a supporting means forysaid frame .andvfirm sheet; and means securing said frames together.

3. A character-for signsmcomprising a y plurality of transparent sheets 1 arranged" to represent a character; and awfra'me 1 around 3 each transparent sheetmade up,v of "a {single piece of thin" sheet material having an'1intermediiate portion-1 throughoutw its length 1 disposed against== the edges of one of i the transparent sheets and ledge portions adj'aocent said intermediate portion disposed on the sides of said-transparent sheet; said edge portions being n'otchedat the corners of said transparent sheetfor fittmg the sections-ofthe edge portions together without overlapping each other on said tnansparent inember.-- I i vim? 4; charac-ten for signs comprising" a z plurality of transparent rsheets arranged to v v I a represent a character'qa frame around each;- While we have illustrated'and described transparent sheetmade fup-of a sin'glez piece of thin sheet material"havingan -interme-u diate' portion throughout its length disposed against the edges of one of the transparent sheets and edge portions adj acent saidiIntermediate portion" disposed onthe sides or cent sides of "the'frames{togetherfii In te'stimony whereof' wehave signed our" I v sing the Commissioner .of Patents 

